I did a search on this and couldn't find anything but bits and pieces. It seems we all have a preference for a specific size Pellet. Some prefer a Flatter Trajectory, some more Power available at the Point-of-Impact, and some use all of them depending on what they intend to accomplish.

I doubt there will ever be a complete agreement which is fine with me. Any comments on your selection concerning "WHY?" it(or more) is your choice, is certainly welcome.

Question:
Which is your "favorite" Pellet size?

Choices:
1. .17 cal
2. .20 cal
3. .22 cal
4. .25 cal
5. Larger
6. More than one of the above.
7. None of the above.

 

I have .177's and 22's and my old 5mm (.20)Sheridan and pellet size wise I like the 5mm best. Enough so that I'm considering a .204 Ruger even though I don't have a clue as to why I need one.

.177. If I need more power I will use my rimfire.

.20 is very good but harder to get good pellets all the time over here. And with the power restriction .177 is better. A .22 at 600fps is useless.
Crows have plenty of time to duck then laugh at you as they fly away.

I grew up using a Crosman 140 and 160. 22 caliber taught me that energy makes a big difference on live game. The 177's have never preformed for me like the 22's in the field.

Greg

Tried some 3.8gr Lead Free Alloy(looks like Tin and $6.97/250 at Wal-Mart) Pellets in the Storm XT today. Crosman claims 1200fps with Light Weight Pellets, and it sounded like it made it easily.

It made a "Crack" similar to a regular High Velocity 22LR due to the Pellets going fast enough to break the Sound Barrier.

Accuracy? Maybe 3" at 25yds, but they were F-A-S-T!!!

As a side benefit it took a few regular Pellets through the barrel to get it back to shooting like it normally does, after using these jokers.

EDIT IN: Forgot to mention they are called "SSP" Super Sonic Pellets.

Maybe they could cause a heart attack with the sonic boom when they fly past the head of your target.

A guy over here has been working on lead free pellets for ages and hasn't come up with anything that works.
He did the "Prometheus" pellets, a plastic sabot with a copper core that were crap as well.
Some designs work OK ish in some guns, but nothing to compare to good lead pellets and at High Velocity you may as well use BBs.

Somebody better work this out, as lead will be banned before too long, it's already banned in Electronics in Europe, that is causing major problems for all sorts of stuff. Lead free solder is bloody useless for a lot of applications.

it is weird but lead free pellets in my RWS 36 .177 shoot to same POI with 1/2 inch groups at 25 yds as Crossman premiers but at 200 fps more velocity. haven't bothered to compute the energy level comparison though. nice that i don't have to adjust my scope when switching pellets. in theory this shouldn't happen but theory doesn't always match reality and the speed were determined over a chrony.

You get the easiest trajectory to work out for a .177 / 8.5gr / 800 fps ... if you zero at 35 yards. With a bit more speed add a few yards, more pellet weight subtract a few.

Obviously the trajectory is the same but if you zero at the optimum range it makes your holdover and under much easier to work out. That's critical with the small targets we shoot at. You want to maximize your point blank range.

I have my gun set at 800fps with 8.4gr zeroed at 35y. The first zero point is 18y then it's one mill dot down for 30 and one dot up for every 5y after 35 with a 10x scope setting out to 50 where it's dropping like a brick and you shouldn't be shooting that far anyway, unless you have way more power.